ZIP code could put you at risk

In east Stockton, it's not unusual to find homes just across the street from smokestacks.

Alex Breitler

In east Stockton, it's not unusual to find homes just across the street from smokestacks.

Jessica Correia lives a good three blocks from an oil refinery, and that's still too close.

"All we smell is burned oil, almost every day," the 26-year-old Correia said. "Depends on which way the wind blows."

A new state database ranks California neighborhoods for their vulnerability to pollution. Out of the more than 1,700 ZIP codes in the state, Correia's (95205) ranks third.

Stockton is home to three of the 10 most vulnerable ZIP codes, making portions of the community comparable with parts of Fresno and Los Angeles.

But the California Environmental Protection Agency study doesn't merely consider how close the smokestacks are, or how much pollution they emit.

It also considers the demographics of the neighborhoods themselves - concluding that some people are inherently more vulnerable than others, based on income, language skills, education and other factors.

In other words, environmental health risk isn't just about where we live. It's about who we are.

Consider these facts about Correia:

» She is a parent. Her 3-year-old daughter, Raychel Hof, splashed around in a kiddie pool on a warm morning last week. Children are especially sensitive to pollution because their immune systems are not yet mature, their quick metabolisms increase exposure to contaminants, and their soft skin is more easily penetrated by chemicals.

» Correia has asthma. People who have asthma and are exposed to pollution from traffic or other sources may be more likely to have asthma attacks. (Correia lives within a few hundred yards of Highway 99.)

» She is low-income. Poorer residents tend to have less access to health care, and studies show air pollution has greater impacts on disadvantaged groups.

These characteristics, and others, are more common among the 38,069 people in Correia's ZIP code than in most other parts of the state. Indeed, in the new state database her neighborhood scored higher for demographic risk than for actual pollution risk.

The study doesn't claim that the oil refinery near Correia is harming her health or her child's, or that any one pollution source is threatening any particular group of people.

It does, however, pinpoint where our most vulnerable neighborhoods are. And that should help the state prioritize funding, under a new law requiring some of the proceeds from California's carbon cap and trade program to flow to disadvantaged communities.

By virtue of its high ranking, Stockton might get some help.

"When state dollars are allocated just on the basis of population numbers, the Central Valley and our area would always be losers to larger metropolitan areas," said Betsy Reifsnider, environmental justice coordinator for the Diocese of Stockton. "But because this (tool) is able to really target where the needs are, I think we do have a much greater opportunity to receive dollars."

The database should also spur some discussions within communities, said Jonathan London, an assistant professor at the University of California, Davis, and an expert on environmental justice - that is, the concept that pollution should not disproportionately harm specific groups of people.

"Hopefully, it can broaden the conversation about what are the problems and also the opportunities in the city," London said.

Concerns about crime, jobs and finances are "absolutely important," he said.

"But there's a lot of other issues going on," London said. "This kind of comprehensive tool hopefully can help people put those issues in a broader context. To have a healthy, sustainable, prosperous city, you can't just focus on one thing."

While 95205 was listed as the most vulnerable ZIP code in Stockton, and the third most vulnerable in the state, other parts of the city were not far behind, including downtown, south Stockton and the Boggs Tract neighborhood.

Most of Stockton ranked in the top 50 percent statewide, meaning the city as a whole tends to be more vulnerable. The tiny 95211 ZIP code, encompassing University of the Pacific, was the lone exception.

Lodi, Tracy and Manteca were also in the top 50 percent, while some rural ZIP codes containing the communities of Linden, Woodbridge and Clements fared somewhat better.

In Stockton's 95205, Mike Prater served meals to seniors at the Northeast Community Center during lunchtime last week, and then stuck around to play pool with a couple of friends. Prater, 55, has been unable to work as a cabinet-maker for years because of health problems such as diabetes. He rents a room at a nearby house.

Told of the risks mentioned in the new study, Prater said, "Ain't much you can do about something like that."

"People here are worried about paycheck to paycheck, keeping kids healthy, eating, that sort of thing," he said. "I think (the risk) is just something you live with."